Learning Is Not a Game, But You Can Make It Fun

Goingto school is a lot of work. Going to college was even more effort. So when we confront our employees with ‘training initiatives,’ what do they think? “Great, more work.”

One of the best ways to combat that attitude is to instill a sense of competition and/or fun into the equation. It can be as simple as ‘best test score wins’ or as complex as ‘everyone builds a training course on a certain subject and the best course wins.’

Despite what you use to motivate employees, you’ve taken what used to be just a “training course,” and added an element of excitement into it through friendly competition.

I’m not advocating adding games into your courses, they are demeaning to many learners; however, I am saying that if you shift the paradigm of ‘training’ to ‘fun,’ then the age-old feelings that your people have towards training will shift along with it.

Take for example, medical regulatory training. Anyone out there love taking that over and over again? Of course not. But if you if you say something like:

· The first 10 employees to complete the courses get [something fun]
· The top 10 scores earn you [something fun]
· If everyone completes the course by some date, we all get [something meaningful]

Yes, of course there will be the naysayers, but the majority of your employees will support you in your quest to make it fun, exciting, and different.